


Lay Your Head on my Shoulder

by nonky



Category: Grey's Anatomy, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 14:01:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17747216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonky/pseuds/nonky
Summary: Prompt by ovariesofsteel at the Caroline Forbes Comment Ficathon on LJ: Caroline/Alex Karev (Grey's Anatomy) - Let me save you





	Lay Your Head on my Shoulder

"Dr. Karev?" A nurse was flicking her hand like a stoned butterfly, trying to get his attention through the usual ER mass of squirming, complaining patients. He made a face mostly hidden behind the collar of his white coat, and reminded himself this was the job. If he wanted to stay on, he had to play nice, be good, show more bedside manner.

"Yes?" He turned sideways and shuffled by another bed, cursing the overstuffed wards in every hospital in the country.

The nurse was holding a stethoscope to a young woman's chest. Both women were frowning, but only the blonde, pretty patient looked nervous. The nurses knew by now he was mostly bark. They hated him for tattling on Grey, but they didn't fear him anymore.

"I can't get vital signs," the nurse told him. "I'm sorry. She was caught in a stampede at a mall, and ended up getting battered. I've filled out her chart, and she says she's not in pain, but I honestly can't get a pulse or a heartbeat."

He rolled his eyes and bit back the commentary that came to mind about nurses and holes in the ground. Alex waved her away and took the chart, skimming it.

"You're Caroline," he asked, more to stall as he read than to bond.

"Yes!" She sat up taller and touched her hair in an unconscious move.

"And you're 23," Alex asked. "You look younger."

"Good genes," Caroline said. She had that nervous look again, but buried it under a big smile. She was the whole deal - long, fluffy blonde hair, white teeth, slim, fit, pretty tall, great breasts. He was feeling about two decades too old to appreciate her, but that was normal for his nights working the ER.

Alex leaned on the bed rail, putting the chart on the mattress beside her. She turned serious, and he fixed his most intense doctor look at her.

"Caroline," he said bluntly. "You seem really happy and carefree for a girl who just got trampled. That means you're lying or you're lucky. I'm hoping for one, but in my experience no one is as happy as you are to be in the ER. Tell me where you have pain or discomfort."

He took her wrist and laid it up on the rail, glancing at his watch. She tried to pull away before shrugging and smiling even brighter than before.

"I've always been a lucky girl," she shrugged, shaking her head.

"Can you hold still please?"

"Sorry." Caroline wiggled and looked toward the doors. "I really think I'm fine, and there are other people who need you more. I'll sign something if-"

Alex shook his head, muttering a curse as her hand pulled from his fingers. He hadn't felt even one beat of her blood circulating. She was cold, but not so cold his fingers would have gone numb from contact.

"I have to check you out before we can talk about who else is here," he told her. "I'm going to listen to your heart."

His scope had to be broken, because he heard nothing. He moved it around, tapped it on his palm, and still nothing. Alex sighed and draped it around his neck instead of throwing it across the room. That would only make stitches he'd have to do.

"I'm not finding your vitals either. Has this ever happened before," he asked. Caroline shook her head.

"I feel fine, though," she said. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," Alex grumbled. "I want to feel in your neck. Can you tip your chin back and move your hair for me?"

She was more than nervous, but did so without attitude. He sensed he was getting off easy from her usual mouthing off, and decided to enjoy that even if it was unprofessional to look down her top.

"No," he hissed after a moment. "This is seriously weird. Hey, what's this scar right here?"

It looked like a bite, right on the join between her shoulder and neck. The edges had been a bloody mess at the time of the injury, and it had healed in white strips of thickened skin. He frowned at her and she gave that vapid, nervous grin.

"Oh, I know, but it's not abuse, promise," Caroline said. She leaned in. "It's a lifestyle. I really think I should go, now. There are people looking for me."

He made a note on the chart, not sure how to explain why the girl had seemingly no heartbeat or blood pressure. She was walking, talking, responsive and showed no signs of pain or head injury. Unless he ordered some thousand dollar tests he really couldn't say more about her condition. In the back of his mind something tickled - the potential of a really rare disease, or some wild procedure he would have to practically invent to save her life.

"People," he asked. She was too nervous to just be afraid of doctors. If there was some history he needed to know, she would have to tell him about it.

"My friends. They were there, too, and my phone was trashed. Please?"

He grimaced, stripped his gloves and scrubbed at three days of stubble. His time was probably better spent on somebody who actually seemed injured. He could have her sign AMA and she'd be happy to get out of there. Alex just had a feeling it was the wrong thing to do.

"Tell you what; I have a break coming about now, no one seems urgent. I'll discharge you if you sign a form saying that's how you wanted it. We can go the to cafeteria, I'll buy you a coffee, and you can call one of your friends. I don't want you leaving the hospital without someone to drag you back here if you start dying."

Caroline's vigorous agreement made him even more suspicious, but she was an adult. He couldn't keep her without running tests and he couldn't run tests without first giving vitals and other basic details. The last thing he needed was a reputation for screwing up taking a pulse.

They finished her paperwork, and Alex helped Caroline climb down off the bed. She nearly danced on her feet on the way to the cafeteria, and he chuckled as she raced him to get into the line up.

"So what's your deal," Alex asked. "Off the record."

She looked down, and scraped a tray along the counter, avoiding all the food he pointed to. Caroline brought her gaze up slowly, as if drawn to stare into his eyes.

"I'm a vampire. Someone killed me, now I drink blood bags to live, but nothing will make my heart beat again."

He huffed and squinted at her. "Yeah, and I turn hairy at the full moon."

Her blue eyes went too wide, and he blinked. "You're serious."

Caroline helped herself to the largest cup they had, and filled it with strong coffee. She shifted away from him with an insulted little pout. It was adorable, and he grinned to see it.

"How else can you explain why you can't take my pulse? I don't have one. My body doesn't run that way anymore," she said. "I have urges to kill and feed, but I don't follow them. I can't stop being a vampire, but I don't want to be a monster."

He filled his own cup and followed to the cashier, who took his money and nodded at him laconically. Alex grabbed Caroline's elbow and led her to a table. She sat down wearily, as if telling him had knocked her around worse than her accident.

"Prove it," he challenged. "Show me your fangs or whatever."

"Someone would see," she said. "And keep your voice down."

"Dude, you just told me you're a vampire! I can't keep my voice down. I don't know if there's a security policy for this, but I feel like I should be calling them. Seriously - I work three days straight sometimes. I need to know I'm not asleep and dreaming this."

Caroline looked around and gauged most of the people in the cafeteria were staring down their coffee or eating between shifts. She nodded and hunched low in her chair. As her lips drew back and dark veins shifted around her eyes, her eyes themselves took on a nightmarish wash of colour and black vessels.

Alex held his coffee tightly, breathing through his mouth as the shock washed over him. After a minute, Caroline took a deep breath and her face went back to normal. The whole thing was flawless camouflage. He couldn't help a degree of admiration.

"Holy - Do other people know? I mean, how old are you?!"

"I'm 23," Caroline told him. "I really am. I was changed when I was a teenager, so I'll never age, but for now I'm still pretty new."

A juvenile smirk spread over his face and Alex said, "I can't believe this is happening. Does the sun kill you?"

"No." She winced. "Mirrors still work, garlic isn't my favourite but I can eat it if I feel like eating. My stomach works, but it's not how I get my nutrients."

Alex took a sip of coffee and suppressed another wave of silly questions. He stared at her with new appreciation.

"Do you know you are probably the key to curing everything that kills people," he asked. "If you'd let me study you, I could use some of your genes to make treatments for all sorts of diseases. We could cure cancer!"

Caroline shook her head, turning away. "No, it's not like that. I - blood is what triggers it, but magic is how vampires are made. No one can section out just a little bit of it to make humans stronger. Please understand, I never asked for this. I'm just trying to get by."

He had only ever known getting by. His childhood, med school, the hospital - all just plodding along in disgrace so he could say he'd gotten by. Alex felt a deep depression rise from the place he'd set aside all his feelings for Izzie, and looked at this new blonde he'd tripped over. She would live forever, never dying on him in fits and starts.

Caroline licked her lips and patted underneath her lashes. She had a heaviness in her eyes. She didn't want to live forever. Alex could help her.

"Let me save you," he said. "I can take some of your blood and find a way to switch off what's in it that makes you a vampire. I can keep a secret."

She smiled bleakly, and touched his fingers. "I know you can. Forget I was here."

Alex felt sleep close around him with amnesiac calm, and jerked his head to fling off the sudden exhaustion. When he lifted his head he saw a blond woman walking out the door. It triggered a pang of his grief over his marriage, and something newer. He shook it off and went back to work.


End file.
